3 Count: Time Limited

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1: SCOTUS Grants Solicitor General’s Bid to Argue in Case About Retrospective Relief Under Copyright Act

First off today, Steve Brachmann at IP Watchdog reports that the United States Supreme Court has granted a request from the U.S. Solicitor General to participate in the upcoming case Warner Chappell Music v. Nealy, which examines what damages a copyright plaintiff can collect when they have filed a lawsuit more than three years after an infringement took place.

In the United States, copyright law has a three year statute of limitations for filing an infringement lawsuit. However, the clock doesn’t start ticking on that limitation until after the plaintiff either learned about or reasonably should have learned about the infringement. As such, a question is raised about whether a plaintiff can collect damages from before the three-year mark.

To that end, there is a circuit split on the question with the Second Circuit ruling that damages were also limited to the three-year span, with the Ninth and Eleventh ruling that damages can be awarded for the full run of the infringement. The case itself deals with a plaintiff who only learned about the infringements after serving a pair of prison sentences and is seeking damages going back decades. The Solicitor General is siding with the Ninth and Eleventh Circuits, asking that damages be allowed from before the three year mark.

2: ACE Shuts Down Huge Football Piracy Ring, Total Destruction TBC

Next up today, Andy Maxwell at Torrentfreak writes that dozens of domains previously linked to live sports piracy sites are now redirecting to the Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment (ACE).

The move involves over 150 domains that were connected to approximately three dozen sports streaming sites, all of which now forward to ACE’s anti-piracy portal. The redirection took place over a series of multiple days and, according to Maxwell, may still be ongoing.

ACE has not made an announcement about the seizure, providing further evidence that it may be ongoing. However, questions are raised about whether the sites are actually fully shut down, considering that many sites operate a large volume of domains.

3: Ladies Who Shared Newspapers Via PDF Soon in Court for Copyright Violation

Finally today, Algoa FM reports that, in South Africa, two women from Oudtshoorn will appear before the High Court in Cape Town over allegations that they unlawfully distributed PDF versions of newspapers in a WhatsApp group that they were administrators of.

The lawsuit was filed by Network24, who claim that the women, for months, distributed digital copies of their newspapers. They claim to have repeatedly warned the operators to cease the sharing but claim that their pleas fell on “deaf ears.”

The case is scheduled to be heard on January 29, though it is unclear if the women will be defending their case.

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